


First Sight

by abreathaway (silverraindrop)



Category: 9-1-1: Lone Star (TV 2020)
Genre: F/M, Secret Relationship, one-night stand to coworkers to lovers, season 1 AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-01
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-13 18:33:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,746
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29780352
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silverraindrop/pseuds/abreathaway
Summary: "So you come here often?" Owen asks, before cursing himself for not thinking of something better. The woman stiffens, turning to him slowly with a confused, concerned, and slightly amused frown. And she is... Stunning."What gave it away?" Blue eyes pierce him, and her lips draw into the most attractive smirk he has ever seen. "The bartender knowing me by name?" She cocks her head at him. "Or are you just a really bad flirt?" She looks him up and down, and he nearly shudders."I'm gonna go with both." He admits, after a moment of floundering. She nods at him, eyes narrowing. He can't seem to hold his tongue under her gaze. "I was curious." He starts, stomach tightening. "And it was a conversation starter. A bad, clichéd one, I'll admit." Her brow furrows, and it feels like a challenge. "And I would really like to try again." He flushes, before nodding at her. "Hi, I'm Owen." He holds out a hand, and she examines it for a moment."Michelle." She offers, still frowning. "But you already knew that."
Relationships: Michelle Blake/Owen Strand
Comments: 12
Kudos: 5





	1. nice to meet you

**Author's Note:**

> The idea came from ana122892 on tumblr (because all of my ideas come from her basically) and I rolled with it HARD. I've tried really hard not to make this too similar to Captain Strand because that is a masterpiece and @sneechestoo is the queen of the owelle fandom

He's sitting at the bar, turning his now empty glass in his hand when someone appears in the space next to him. Shifting over to allow them more room, he thinks nothing of it, and is about to signal the bartender when the person starts to speak. "Hey Chris!" She calls, and Owen's head snaps up. "Can I get a double?" He tries not to let her notice him while he tries to get a good look at the woman next to him, her turned head denying him a glimpse of her face. The bartender, Chris he guesses, lifts his hand in a wave, before confirming her order. 

He can't see her face, but he knows enough to know that she's gorgeous. He knew that even before he saw her, saw her hair falling down her back, saw her fingers lacing together on the countertop. He knew it when her voice washed over him in a wave, shocking his system and sending him straightening in his stool. 

He takes out his phone, pretending to scroll while he watches her wait on her drink, watches her thumb trace patterns in the back of her hand. His own need of a fresh drink is totally forgotten in his focus on the presence beside him. She starts to look around herself, and his eyes snap firmly to his phone when he sees her head turn to his side. 

He can feel her eyes linger on him for a moment, and he almost opens his mouth to talk to her, when Chris sets her drink in front of her. "Ya'll back soon I hear?" Chris asks her, and Owen's interest is piqued. 

"We'll be causing trouble again in no time, I'm sure." She replies with a weak, but affectionate, smile in her voice. Owen can hear it even without looking at her, and he so wants to see it. 

"You make sure to bring them round, Michelle. I wanna meet em." He tells her, before turning to attend another customer. The woman, Michelle, lets out a heavy sigh, drooping onto the counter as she lifts her drink. 

"So you come here often?" Owen asks, before cursing himself for not thinking of something better. The woman stiffens, turning to him slowly with a confused, concerned, and slightly amused frown. And she is... Stunning. 

"What gave it away?" Blue eyes pierce him, and her lips draw into the most attractive smirk he has ever seen. "The bartender knowing me by name?" She cocks her head at him. "Or are you just a really bad flirt?" She looks him up and down, and he nearly shudders. 

"I'm gonna go with both." He admits, after a moment of floundering. She nods at him, eyes narrowing. He can't seem to hold his tongue under her gaze. "I was curious." He starts, stomach tightening. "And it was a conversation starter. A bad, clichéd one, I'll admit." Her brow furrows, and it feels like a challenge. "And I would really like to try again." He flushes, before nodding at her. "Hi, I'm Owen." He holds out a hand, and she examines it for a moment.

"Michelle." She offers, still frowning. "But you already knew that." She smirks at him again. It pricks at his skin, making him want to squirm under her gaze. 

He shakes it off before he speaks. "So what has you sighing into a double tequila?" He asks casually, finally summoning the bartender to order another drink. 

She drops her head for a moment before answering. "I'll tell you, if you tell me why you're alone in a bar…" She looks him up and down again. "A long way from home?"

He doesn't ask how she knows that, just laughs a little before answering. "I start a new job tomorrow, I guess I'm pretty nervous." He takes his drink gratefully from Chris. "Your turn." He sips.

"Same as you I guess." She shrugs. "But I suppose it's not a new job. Same job as before. But it's different now, everything's gonna be so...different." Her eyes dim their sparkle. "So here I am." He gestures around the bar. "Pretending it's not different." In reality, it's not the kind of bar she'd normally go to on her own, but it felt like the right place to come tonight. 

Owen watches as she tries to bring back the light tension from before she answered his question. "Ah, we have something in common." He offers with a smile, raising his glass to her. "To new jobs." He toasts, chest blooming with light when it earns him an actual smile. "You've got a good eye." He tells her when he's sipped his drink. "How did you know I'm a long way from home?" She actually laughs at him, a twinkling thing that dances around her before it fully reaches him, pulling him to lean towards her. 

"It's just...really obvious." She smiles apologetically. "Sorry if you were trying to blend in. It's everything about you really." He just looks at her questioningly, before looking at himself, pressing her to elaborate. "Your clothes are too tight." She starts. "Not like...too tight, too tight, just like...not loose." Even in the low light she blushes, her eyes tracing his biceps. "The way you were sitting." He blushes at how tense he was when she appeared next to him. "You just look a little out of place, that's all." She brushes it off, as though she's worried she has offended him. 

"I'm definitely out of place." He looks around at cowboy hats and flannel. He looks back at her. "It's not so bad now though." He quirks his eyebrows, and she shakes her head with a blush. "You though, you're right at home." He smiles at her. "Something tells me you're just the kind of friend a guy wants when he's new in town." It's forward, and he worries himself for a moment before she leans back on the counter, smiling.

"Ah, you want a tour guide." She muses. "Someone to show you around town." She clasps her hands in front of her, examining him, as though she's considering what he might actually mean.

So he clarifies. "I'm sure you know all the best places in town." He leans towards her, cocking his head to the door. And she understands, nodding.

She glances towards the door herself, before delaying. "You don't know me," she points out. She signals Chris for two more drinks. "And I don't know you." She says it with a smirk, leaning towards him now.

"What do you want to know?" He asks her, taking a swig of his fresh drink.

"Anything." She shrugs, finally settling on the stool next to her. He tells her about New York, skimming over the details of his life, and focusing instead on his places, his apartment, his street, his favourite cafes. He doesn't let her know him at all really, but he knows all she wants is to pretend she does. 

She does the same. She tells him about Austin. Where she grew up, where she moved, where she drinks when she isn't here. He knows he doesn't know her, but he knows she doesn't want him to.

He doesn't ask her about her work, which she is obviously trying not to think about, and she doesn't ask him about his. Eventually, he tells her a joke and she leans forward as she laughs, steadying herself with a hand on his thigh. She doesn't move it. 

So he tells her a story of his drunken 20s with her hand on his thigh, tingling as he desperately tries to focus on anything else. Preferably something that isn't her eyes. But they are difficult to ignore. 

Which is how he catches the moment she decides to take his hand, lacing her fingers with his. She doesn't say anything as she picks up her bag, standing from her stool. He doesn't say anything while he follows her. 

Neither of them say anything when they step outside, or while he turns her to face him, or before he takes her by the back of the neck, kissing her fiercely against the wall of the bar. He's been desperate to do it since she first started to speak, and his skin tingles when she responds to him, a slight whimper rising in her throat. "I've wanted to do that all night." He admits, breaking away from her. She nods, forehead resting on his.

"You want to start your tour of Austin?" She asks him with the tiniest of grins. He nods, releasing her to call a taxi, which she manages even with his arm sneaking around her waist. 

They keep their hands, mostly, to themselves in the taxi. Her hand rests apparently innocently on his thigh, while his traces light circles on her shoulder and they try their best not to embarrass the poor driver. 

Neither of them show any such restraint when they arrive on her porch and the taxi is gone, and she barely has the door unlocked before she's tugging him inside and slamming it shut behind them. 

Later, she lies staring at the ceiling, brow furrowed. He can see the cogs turning in her head, and he starts to worry about everything he's done tonight. "Fuck." She whispers under her breath, the heel of her hand coming up to press on her forehead. "What the fuck did I just do?" She asks the air, and he pulls himself further away from her. She jolts and the movement, immediately reaching her hand out in apology. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that I just…" She sighs, sitting up, taking bedsheets with her in some imitation of modesty. "I don't do this. Ever. And I've been really… it doesn't matter. I'm sorry." She squeezes his bicep before pulling away from him, her hands dropping to twist together in her lap. "I keep doing stupid things." She tells them, squeezing her fingers together. "Carlos is gonna go crazy." 

Carlos? Owen panics, if this woman has a partner this just went from amazing, to awkward, to horrible really fast. "He's had to arrest me fourteen times and now I've taken a total stranger into my house." She drops her head, bringing a hand up to catch it. "I'm supposed to be the smart one. What the hell is wrong with me?" 

"You've been arrested fourteen times?" It mustn't be for anything serious, but he does wish he'd known this before she took him home. He assumes Carlos isn't a partner, but maybe a friend, or a relative. So he's left not with adultery, but run-of-the-mill bad decisions. So he tries to relieve the tension. "Not to pry, but how does that even happen?"

"A lot has happened." She offers, wiping at her eyes. "I'm so sorry Owen, I shouldn't have…" She's not really sure what she shouldn't have done. She probably shouldn't have taken him home, but that's not what she wanted to say. Shouldn't have reacted like this, probably. "You should go." That's not right. "I mean, you don't have to stay, and listen to me ruin the night."

"Nah." He smiles, settling back on the pillows. "I can't leave a woman's bed while she's upset, what kind of guy would that make me?" He grins at her, and she manages a weak chuckle. "Besides, I could probably help. I know a thing or two about regrets. I've been married twice." Regrets aplenty there. Especially the second time. He doesn't like to think about the second time. "This stuff that's happened? You can tell me about it if you want? No harm in telling a stranger."

She hesitates, as though she wants to take him up on his offer before she shakes her head. "Okay." He concedes. "Can I tell you my thing though? Cos I've got a thing, that I haven't told anybody about. And you seem nice." She flushes, she had certainly seemed nice half an hour ago, moaning beneath him. She pushes the thought away, and settles back next to him with a nod. "I've got cancer." She jolts beside him, concern radiating off her. "It's not serious, it should be totally fine." He waves her off. "But I haven't told my son yet." He has a son? She shifts again, now knowing too much about the man next to her. "Or my new boss. I took this new job down here because my son needed to get out of New York. And now I'm scared, because I brought him here with this secret, and now I don't know how to tell him." Even telling her, this total stranger, sends a rush of nerves through him, making his whole body tremble next to her, and she lays a soothing hand on his arm. She rubs her hand up and down his arm until he stops shaking. 

Behind him, she watches the clock on the table flick over to midnight, and her chest tightens. "It's my sister's birthday." She chokes out, her eyes screwing shut to force back the tears threatening to break through them. "She's been missing." She explains, and it's his turn to be concerned, his hand reaching out to grasp hers. "For almost three years. Her boyfriend," she scoffs, her lips almost turning to a weak smile. "He has a restraining order against me. That's why I keep getting arrested." He nods understandingly, the tiniest hint of amusement pulling at his cheeks. 

"I'm sorry." He offers weakly, unsure what else to say. His health seems so trivial, so easily fixed. Even withholding the truth from TK has such a simple solution. But Michelle? There's no easy way out for Michelle, if there is a way out at all. 

"It's not your fault." She shrugs, biting her lip. "I'm sorry about you too." She offers, and it lingers in the air. 

His chest tightens, something pulling at it, and he knows that he can't walk away from her now. A beautiful woman from a bar? Yes, he could move on from her, with a memory to smile about. But her? This woman, the first one to hear about its cancer. This woman who offers no advice, only comfort. Whose own troubles are so devastating behind her smile. This woman he couldn't walk away from. So he leans up to kiss her softly, and she stares at him dumbly when he pulls away. 

"See?" He smiles at her, unable to contain the light fluttering in his chest. "The night isn't ruined." She smiles down at him, sighing before she lets herself lie down next to him. He takes her hand in his, squeezing lightly. "You doing anything for your sister's birthday?" He asks casually. As though she would be able to take the woman out for a drink. 

"I don't know." She shrugs. "I'm working till late. Maybe I'll have a drink for her after, I don't know." It actually lightens her chest, the thought of celebrating for Iris. "Maybe I will." She stares at the ceiling with a tiny smile, her thumb stroking his hand. "You should tell your son." She turns to him. "You should tell him before something happens. You need someone to know." 

He nods. "Thank you." He whispers, and she leans in to kiss him. It isn't the rushed, delirium from before. But she hooks a leg over him, moving to straddle his waist, and it is a slow desperation that he lets himself reciprocate. 

Xx

It's early, but probably not early enough for Owen's son to not wonder where he spent the night. "I probably shouldn't have stayed till morning." He sighs, eyeing the dim sunrise. She hums from the bed, not opening her eyes. "TK will never let me live it down if he catches me sneaking in." 

Her stomach rolls at the new information. It must be short for something, but even this half-identity presses her to ask more about him. "So, TK?" She starts, rolling to face him. "Tell me about him. How old is he?" She's imagining a young teen, too street-wise for his age, in need of some access to the countryside, while still having the familiarities of the city. So Owen's answer shocks her. "Twenty six? Twenty...so he's...an adult?" 

"Well yeah." Owen chuckles. "Pretty sure twenty-six is an adult. But he makes me question that constantly." She doesn't dare ask how old he is, but she knows it must be considerably older than she first thought. She hopes to God that he was born when Owen was young, but either way he must be easily ten years older than she is.

"Kids always seem like kids." She laughs awkwardly. "No matter how old they get. Iris is ten years younger then I am." She laughs properly now. "She's always seemed like such a kid."

"Wow, some age gap." He tugs his shirt over his head. 

"My parents were really young when they had me." She tells him, sitting up in her bed. She eyes him, his back turned to her. He drops his head back with a sigh. 

"Oh, that's tough, I was twenty-two when we had TK." She lets out a tiny, relieved sigh. Not too huge an age gap, maybe Carlos won't absolutely kill her when he finds out about this. Because Carlos always finds out. 

Owen drops onto the bed, shoes in hand. It occurs to her that it would be rude to make him walk himself out of her home in the early hours of the morning, so she slips out of bed, grabbing the robe hanging on the bathroom door. She doesn't settle back on the bed, but stands, leaning against the wardrobe, watching him put on his shoes. 

Something in her stomach drops when she hears the taxi pull into the driveway. But she shakes it loose before he turns his head to smile at her. “I guess that’s my ride.” She nods silently, following him when he makes to leave her room. 

He stops at her front door, and she waits behind him for him to turn around to her. She can’t help the smirk playing at her lips. He doesn’t want to leave yet. But he has to, so he turns back to her. 

“Thank you.” He steps towards her. “For last night, for everything.” His hand brushes at her arm lightly. 

She grins, blushing. “Welcome to Texas, Owen.” She chuckles, leaning to kiss him softly before she leads him to the door. 


	2. twist of fate

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> some of the dialogue isn't the same as the show, I don't think it would have made sense that way

TK is sitting at the kitchen counter when he walks in the door. “Long night?” He asks, bringing his coffee to his lips. Owen cringes silently, shutting the door behind himself. He shouldn’t be coming home to his son trying to parent him, and his stomach rolls over in guilt. Immediately though, TK drops his frown, descending into a fit of laughter. “Glad to see you’re embracing your new surroundings Dad.” He stands from his stool, padding across the floor. “Don’t take too long getting ready, we have to be early today.” He pats him on the shoulder, making his way to the stairs. “Oh!” He calls, halfway up the stairs. “I really hope there doesn’t end up being a bunch of mini-Strands running around Texas.”

Owen pours himself a desperately needed coffee from the pot TK brewed, following him upstairs with a laugh. With the amount of times he caught TK sneaking home in the early hours, he supposes he should let his son enjoy this one. Even if it is a little humiliating. 

He didn’t notice it this morning, but when he takes off his shirt he catches a whiff of perfume, and it shocks the breath right out of his chest. He can feel her hands on his chest, and his stomach twists as he tries to shake it off. 

It takes a shower, and the familiar comfort of his skincare routine, to stop heart racing and memories of last night sending tingles down his spine. His hard work is undone, however when he starts to dress for work.

His work shirt is perfume-free, but still his fingers fumble with the buttons, unable to avoid thinking of unbuttoning the back of Michelle's dress last night. He screws his eyes shut, willing his shirt to cooperate with his hands. 

When he makes his way downstairs he is flustered, and TK's casual leaning on the countertop doesn't help. "I thought I said not to take too long?" He smirks at him, glancing at the clock. An hour isn't too long, Owen thinks, but he doesn't respond. He just scowls at TK. "Oh wow." TK chuckles. "Must have been some night." He notes Owen's flush. "She really did a number on you didn't she?" He pushes himself off the counter to head to the door. "You sure you're fit to drive in that daze?" TK calls from the doorway, and Owen leaves indents in his fingers as he squeezes the keys in his fist.

Xx

Knocking on Dustin's door probably wasn't what Owen had in mind when he suggested that she celebrate Iris's birthday. He definitely wasn't suggesting that she slam at it, and scream until he called the cops. But that's what she did. And she actually feels a little better, kicking his house. She feels a little of her tension dissipate. 

So she doesn't even feel that guilty when Carlos's squad car pulls up. She even nearly smiles when she greets him. She doesn't feel the usual guilt when he has to handcuff her.

She doesn't smile, however, when he pauses. And her chest tightens when he coughs. "What's that?" He asks her, and she whips her head around to question him. He's staring right at the back of her shoulder. 

She flushes instantly, remembering Owen unbuttoning her dress, kissing her neck, his teeth dipping lower to nip at her shoulder. She turns her head forward again, determined not to answer Carlos's question. 

"Michelle…" She huffs, desperately wishing she could tug her sweater to cover the bruise. "Do you have a hickey on your neck?"

"So what if I do?" She snaps. She's a grown woman, what's it to him what she does anyway? She starts to walk towards the car, Carlos close behind.

"I just...you didn't tell me you were seeing anybody." There is a hint of disappointment in his voice, and she realises that maybe she's been more distant than she thought recently, if he really thinks she could hide something like that. 

"I'm not." She tells him when he opens the door, and her stomach twists at the look on his face. 

"So who?" He starts to ask, closing the door behind her and slipping into the front of the car. "So who was that?" He points at his own neck, concern lacing his voice. 

"A guy." She mumbles.

"A guy? Just some random guy?"

She sighs. "I met him at the Honky Tonk last night." This is honestly way more humiliating than the handcuffs around her wrists. 

"Last night? You let some guy you don't know do that?" He's eyeing her through the rear-view, and she squirms. "I'm assuming you did more than just…" He huffs out a sigh, gripping the steering wheel tightly. "You let some random guy you don't know take you home?"

"Actually… I took him home." It gets exactly the reaction she expected.

"Michelle!" He groans. "What the hell? You let a stranger into your house? He could have been a murderer! Or like… robbed you? What's wrong with you?"

"Not everyone is a criminal Carlos." She groans. "Some people are normal!"

"Says the woman I just arrested for violating a restraining order for the fifteenth time!" She slumps back in her seat. He has a point, and it's not the first time he's tried to convince her that maybe Dustin might be innocent. 

"If you people would do your jobs I wouldn't have to violate any orders, because you would have found out what happened." She snaps back. "It's her birthday Carlos, I can't just let her go on her birthday."

"We're not gonna have any new birthdays to celebrate anytime soon are we?" She struggles for a moment over his question, wondering what on earth he could possibly mean. 

"Oh my God, Carlos!" She scoffs. "I'm not a total idiot." 

"I just had to be sure." He eyes her again through the mirror. 

"Whenever you want to stop being my father and start being my friend, just tell me." She glances out the window. "Hey, I start work in twenty, can you just drop me there?" 

"Michelle, I'm not an Uber." He chuckles.

"I wasn't gonna tip." She smirks at him, chuckling when he takes the turn for the firehouse. "He was lovely, by the way. Not even a little bit murdery." 

Carlos, back to being her friend again, laughs at her. "Good."

"You know," she leans forward. "Normal friends, when their friend has sex for the first time in a very long time, are happy for their friends." 

"It's not that I'm not happy for you, Chica." He taps his hands against the steering wheel. "It's just...not like you. And you've made some...questionable decisions recently." She isn't sure if he's talking about Billy or...everything else in her life. But she wouldn't call Billy 'recent', so she assumes he's talking about the multiple arrests in the last few years, and everything else since Iris went missing. "It just feels very… new-Michelle." 

"I know." She mumbles behind him. It is very new-Michelle. She'd had this very problem last night. "He was really nice though." She smiles, blushing as she thinks of how sweet he was about her little freakout. "He was really nice to talk to."

"Yeah, I'm sure you did lots of talking." Carlos scoffs, smirking. 

"We did, actually. We talked a lot." 

"So what does he do?" Carlos asks casually, and she flushes.

"I don't know." 

"What's his name?"

"Owen...something. " He eyes her suspiciously. 

"You talked to this guy, a lot. You took him home with you. And you don't know what he does? Or who he is?" Her cheeks are absolutely burning. "I don't even have a last name to find out about him! How are you supposed to show him to me? How could you have sex with someone and not let me know what he looks like?"

"It didn't seem important." She defends, omitting the fact that it seemed important to her not to know any of these things last night. "I'm sorry that I can't show him to you. He was quite something." She grins. 

"Just his looks? Or?" He doesn't finish his question, and she giggles slightly when she finishes it for him in her head.

"Not just his looks." She sends a wink through the mirror, and he nods approvingly. She smiles out the window, the tension from Carlos's initial questioning gone completely. 

He lets her off at the firehouse, with yet another warning. "Don't want you to make a bad impression on the new team." He tells her, unlocking the handcuffs. "Good luck today, Chica." He pulls her in for a quick hug, pressing a kiss to her hair.

"Come out for a drink with me after work?" She asks, pulling away. "I'll probably be taking the team out anyway, but it's Iris's birthday." She explains. "We should celebrate it."

"I'd love to." He squeezes her hand with a nod, turning to get back into the car.

It takes her a while to walk inside, and she's glad Carlos managed to drop her off early. It's quiet when she enters, and completely different to the last time she was here. 

Nothing is the way it used to be, and she has to wander a bit before finding her office. She doesn't see a soul, and she can't help but wonder where they could all be. But she's not in uniform yet, and her shift starts in five minutes. So she finds the changing rooms, and she's just made it back downstairs to meet the team, when the alarm blares, and a group of unfamiliar people rush past her. 

Tim and Nancy follow the group at a stroll, and smile weakly at her when she sees them. "You guys okay?" She asks, casting her eye over the new firehouse. The pair of them shrug. "You met them? What are they like?"

"They're nice." Tim shrugs, frowning slightly. "They're okay I guess."

"Captain Strand is more than okay." Nancy mumbles with a smile, squirming her eyebrows at Michelle. The pair of them chuckle, while Tim shakes his head.

“You guys okay? You ready for this?” She’s pretty sure she’s not ready for their first call out in six months, but still, she leads them to the ambulance, her hands shaking only a little when she reaches for the door handle. “If you’re not…” She can technically get dispatch to send another team. But that probably wouldn’t do any good. 

But Tim and Nancy assure her that they are fine. Months out of the rhythm of things, has the three of them silent the whole drive there. Each of them rehearsing the motions in their heads. 

Michelle thinks she's finally okay, that she's ready for her first call in months. Until she hears the Captain speak, and her stomach drops. "So we have some room to work." She catches, her stomach twisting itself into knots as she steals herself for the inevitable.

"You mean give us some room to work?" He spins around like a shot. "This scene belongs to us." She looks him in the eye only briefly, a warning for him to calm his obvious panic, before she brushes past him. She does her very best to hide hers, shoving it down as far as it will go before starts to direct Tim and Nancy.

"You must have missed the part where they made me the captain of the 126." It's suggestive, late-night, Owen, and she whips around, steeling her features.

"Michelle Blake, Paramedic Captain." She introduces herself coldly. "And this scene is medical, so I run the call."

"Woah, since when does EMS tell Fire what time it is?" She has to give it to him, he does a remarkable job pretending never to have met her before. Probably something to do with his newfound talent for getting on her nerves. 

"Guess you didn't read the Travis County Manual, did you?" She presses, starting to get to work.

"I'm more of a … visual learner." She doesn't miss his eyes trailing over her, and she turns her head to catch him in the act.

"In Texas, EMS calls the shots involving medical emergencies." He has a hint of a smirk on his lips, and she can't help but snap at him. "So you do what I say, Captain." It's so unlike last night, and if she wasn't freaking out so much she would probably find it funny. He hides it well, but she can tell that Owen finds it hilarious. 

She's good at her job. She always has been. She knows that she's impressive, but it's nice to have an audience, and this one is enthralled. They've obviously heard that the old 126 was in serious need of a re-haul, and probably didn't have high hopes for the remaining members. When she's finished, she looks back at Owen, and he's still watching her.

"Nice work, Captain." He smirks when she passes, following behind Tim and Nancy. "Impressive."

"Welcome to Texas, Captain." She winks. Immediately, she regrets it at the flush of his cheeks. And she's brought back to this morning, in her robe, letting him out of her house. She starts back on her way to the ambulance, blushing furiously. 

Xx

He's in his office when she returns. He looks like he's deep in paperwork, she suspects the county manual, but almost as soon as she sees him he's out of his seat, making his way to her office. "Captain Michelle Blake." He stops in her doorway, leaning against it. "What a happy coincidence."

"This is not a happy coincidence." She huffs, dropping into her chair. "This." She gestures to him. "Is payback from God for my bad decisions." Of course she couldn't have a one night stand and move on with her life, of course there would be some kind of consequences. 

"From God?" He chuckles. "I didn't think you were all that concerned about God, Michelle?" At least, not when that god wasn't Owen in the middle of the night. 

"When things like this happen, I start to think maybe I should be." Carlos is going to have a field day with this. 

"You say payback." He steps into her office fully. "I say fate." She can't help but smile, blushing softly. "Come on, it's like a movie. I think that if God had anything to do with it, he's giving us a sign." It is, it's exactly like some stupid romantic comedy. 

"It's not a movie Owen." She sighs. "This can't be anything, you get that, right?" He doesn't seem to get it, his head cocking to the side with a hint of a pout. "Owen, we work together now. It would be a really bad idea." He looks like he disagrees, moving to sit on the edge of her desk. 

"Okay." He sighs with a nod.

"No one can know about this. No one can even suspect." A smile springs on her lips unexpectedly. "So, if in future, you could avoid checking me out when I'm working, that would be a big help." 

"Fine." He grins with a laugh, before sobering up quickly. "So, you okay? First day back?" If it hadn't started with such a shock, she would probably be less okay. But she nods silently. "I know the place is really different. I know that can be difficult…"

"I'll be fine, Owen." She assures him. She's actually a little bit glad the place looks so different. She had been worried about being assaulted with memories at every turn. But the place is bright, shiny, and new. "Thank you." 

He nods softly, standing from the desk. Just when he reaches the doorway, he taps it with a sigh, turning around. "I should probably warn you." He bites his lip. "TK works here, he's on the team." 

"TK?" Her eyes widen, and he turns again. "Your son TK?" And he's gone. 

  
  


Xxx

When she gets back from their next call, there is a cupcake sitting on her desk. Owen, the only person she can think of who would do this, isn't in his office, so she can't immediately go berate him for doing something so sweet. So she approaches the offending cake, picking up the post-it that sits under it. 

_ Couldn't get a candle quickly. For your sister. -O _

She sets the cake aside, smiling at it every now and then, while she does her paperwork. She decides against indulging immediately. It's the only cake Iris is going to get, and it doesn't seem right to eat it on her own, at work. 

Owen is in the kitchen when she emerges for a cup of coffee. "Captain Blake." He greets her casually. "How's your first day back?" His head tilts towards someone rummaging in the fridge. "TK whatever you're looking for isn't going to be there if you haven't found it already." His eyes dart over to her when she straightens her spine. He smirks at her, and she glares pointedly at him. 

"I don't even know what I'm looking for Dad." TK admits, emerging from the fridge with a soda. "We really gotta work on the snacks in this place. And by that I mean I gotta do it, I don't trust you. We need things like cookies, and chips."

"There's a bakery around the corner." They offer in unison, both of them immediately flushing and avoiding the other's eyes.

"It's great," Michelle continues, thinking about many an impromptu celebration catered by said bakery. "And they like us, might even do you a deal." They liked the old team anyway, but she's sure they'll warm to any member of the 126. 

  
  


TK thanks her, leaving the two of them alone in the kitchen. 

"Way to not be suspicious." She laughs, almost going to nudge his arm, but thinking better of it at the last minute. 

"He'll just think I've been sneaking around in secret eating illicit cookies." He brushes it off easily. 

"Thank you, for the cupcake. It was really sweet of you." She blushes. "I really appreciate it."

"I told you to celebrate today." He shrugs. "I wanted to make sure you could."

"Speaking of celebrating." She starts, twisting her fingers. "I think we, the team I mean, should go out for a drink? After work?" When he starts to nod, she bites her lip nervously. "The thing is… we always went to the Honky Tonk after work." He stops nodding, twisting his lip awkwardly. "I think Tim and Nancy would like it if we did the same. And I told Chris last night I'd take the new team…"

"Sure." 

"Sure? That's okay? It won't be weird?" 

"Of course it'll be weird." He scoffs. "It's fine though, tell the team." She nods, starting to walk away, when he stops her. "I uh...I just wanted to ask. I left my number, on your bedside table. If I didn't work here...would you have called it?"

Her answer is easy, and it twists in her stomach. "Yes."


	3. dancing is a dangerous game

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, the interactions here are nearly completely different. Oops

She makes a box from paper on her desk, for the cupcake. It's flimsy, and it would probably be easier to just carry the thing, but she does it anyway. She's bone tired, the long first day catching up with her, so she's grateful for the quiet moment she takes to fold the paper. "Hey Cap." Nancy hovers in the doorway, already changed. "You coming?"

"I gotta go home and change." She tells her. "Can't have this new team think we can't be fancy." A sweater and sneakers isn't exactly the fanciest outfit she could wear. And she's absolutely not thinking of a dress for Owen's sake. Not at all. 

"I don't know if these people would see the Honky Tonk as a real night out." Nancy raises her eyebrows. "Hell, I don't see it as a night out." She smirks when realisation dawns on her. "Trying to impress someone?" She grins, and Michelle feels a flush creep up her neck. She is, not that she'd even admit it to herself.

"Don't be ridiculous Gillian." She scoffs. "I'm just going home to throw something different on. It's no big deal."

It seems an awful lot like a big deal when she's putting on makeup. And perfume. And it definitely feels like a big deal when she bypasses her usuals, reaching instead for one of her slightly more fitted dresses in the back. She doesn't choose it because she knows Owen will look, not at all. She just felt like it, obviously. 

It's not her most sensible choice. She has to put concealer on her shoulder, and arrange her hair so the mark is covered, even though she knows she will forget to keep it that way. 

She's not quite finished when she hears Carlos pull into the driveway, so she runs her fingers through her hair instead of brushing it, only just remembering to grab the cupcake before heading out the door. 

"You look nice." He tells her, with the slightest hint of judgement, when she opens the car door. "Don't know why you had to change though, I mean, it's not exactly high class." His eyes flick to the box in her lap. "What's that?" 

"A birthday cupcake. I thought we should split it." His face falls, nodding slowly, before he starts the car up again. 

"So…" he starts, when they get on the road. "The guy from last night. Hoping he's there again? That why you're wearing one of your, "trying-but-not-obviously-trying dresses"?" There's no judgement, only a teasing smile, and she relaxes into the seat. 

"It's just a random dress Carlos." She rolls her eyes. "It's nothing."

"I know you, Chica. I've seen this all before." She says nothing, just glares at him. "It's a nice dress, don't pretend it's not. So unless someone on the new team is worth trying for, this is about the guy from last night."

"And what if it's neither?" It's both, but she's not exactly going to give Carlos the satisfaction. "What if I just want to celebrate my sister's birthday?"

"It's not neither, but I'll let it go." He concedes, before flicking his eyes over to her briefly. "But this guy, would you see him again? Did he give you his number?"

"He did." She bites on her smirk.

"Are you gonna call it?" 

"No." Her smile falls, and he examines her curiously out of the corner of his eye. "I did think about it." She admits. She had thought about it nearly constantly all day. She's actually surprised that she would have called it, had Owen not showed up at work. Maybe she would have dwelled on it, debated against it. But she would have called him, eventually. "It would be a bad idea though." She shakes the thought out of her head. 

"I know I was a dick about it this morning." Carlos sighs. "I'm sorry, I was just...I dunno. I was angry that I had to arrest you again I guess. And maybe I'm a little over cautious about stuff. And I shouldn't have been so judgy. You liked that guy, I know you did, so don't not call him because I wasn't happy about it." 

"That's not why I'm not going to call him Carlos." She really needs someone to talk to about this, because it's such a bizarre situation that she can't just not talk about it. But they are about to walk into a bar with Owen, and all her new colleagues. And Carlos doesn't have the best poker face she's ever seen.

"Then why not? I know you want to." He pulls into the parking lot. 

"It's just a bad idea." She decides to say. Best to keep the real reason to herself tonight. 

She grabs them a table not far from the team while he gets their drinks. She wants to do this just the two of them, and she's sure the team can manage without her for a little while longer. She's just finished unfolding the box when he arrives with two tequilas. "Why didn't you cut it before you left?" He chuckles as she folds the paper to cut the cupcake. "Wouldn't that have been easier? And like way less messy?"

"Yes." She huffs. "But this works, so leave me alone, or I won't split it, and you don't get anything." It shuts him up, and she manages to cut a squished and uneven line down the centre of the cupcake. "See? It works." She grins, presenting him his half with a flourish. 

Carlos slides her glass towards her. "Thanks Michelle." He raises his glass. "To Iris."

Behind Carlos's head, he sees Owen smile at her, and she raises her own glass with a nod. "Happy Birthday Iris." She downs her drink, settling the glass on the table with a dull thud. Her chest tightens, and she chokes down a corner of cupcake with a shudder. 

It really is a delicious cupcake, and somehow that makes it all worse. "Wow this is good." Carlos mumbles through a mouthful of cupcake. "Iris would approve." 

"I wasn't going to do anything like this." She sighs, breaking off another piece of the cake. "I didn't really see the point." There is no point, really. Iris isn't really alive, or really dead, in her mind. She's just...gone. And she has nowhere to direct her thoughts. "He said it would be a good idea." She rolls her eyes. 

"It was." Carlos takes her hand. "It was a good idea. Not everything has to be so difficult all the time." She shrugs, nodding. "I feel a lot better." A smirk forms on his lips. "You should thank him… for his good idea." He quirks his eyebrows, and she swats him on the arm. 

She hears someone on the team call her over. "Come on," she nudges Carlos. "I'll introduce you." 

The team toast to their first day, a success all round they agree. "To the 126, past and present." Owen smiles sadly at Michelle, Tim, and Nancy. "Cheers." 

The team resume their chatter, Tim and Nancy pulling Carlos in for a catch up, giving Michelle an opportunity to sidle up to Owen. "I should thank you." She smiles. "For the toast," she quirks her head to Nancy, still holding back tears. "That was sweet of you." He waves it off, it was nothing, really. "And I should thank you again, for your advice. And the cupcake." 

His gaze softens, before it twinkles with humour and he smiles. "Speaking of, you got a little…" And then he reaches out, his thumb brushing against her lip, wiping at a stray smudge of frosting. Halfway through the motion, he seems to realise what he's doing, his thumb pausing on her lip. Neither of them move, until a fraction of a second later, she hears TK cough behind Owen, and he jumps, pulling his hand away. 

She shakes herself slightly, laughing. The music shifts, and an idea pops into her head. "Well Captain Stand, shall we?" She turns slightly to the middle of the bar, where a crowd is clearing away. 

"Oh I see, that's why you brought us here, I see you." He chuckles, their tension diffusing. "You wanted to assert your dominance." She flushes madly, glad of the low lighting. If there is one thing she wasn't doing this time last night, it was asserting any dominance.

"I just think a man should have to earn his spurs." She smirks, eyes twinkling. It's suggestive, and she sees TK's eyes widen behind Owen. She also sees Owen spinning the thought around in his head.

"Trust me, you don't want to see me dance." He shakes his head, tensing when TK laughs behind him. 

"Are you shy?" She challenges, stepping slightly closer. There's no way he won't concede. Not with TK ready to mock him. And not when she's looking at him like that.

He concedes, just like she knew he would. He isn't nearly as bad as he suggested he might be, but her plan to pull him away from the team to talk fails miserably. The entire team joins them, eager to celebrate the move to Texas with some bad line dancing. So she keeps her conversation to teasing him, that seems to be how they talk in front of everyone else. 

So they dance, and if they flirt a little, and dance a little too closely, then it's a good thing everyone else is so distracted. 

She knows exactly what's wrong with him when panic crosses his face, and he ducks out of the crowd, hand on his chest. She glances around only briefly, no one is watching them, and if they were she thinks it's worth the risk to follow him anyway. 

"Owen?" She calls from the doorway, catching sight of him doubled over, gasping for breath. "You okay?"

"I'm fine." He gasps out, clearly not fine. She insists that she let her check, she's a paramedic after all. "It's nothing, just a little short of breath."

"Dancing too strenuous an activity for you, Captain?" She asks, giving him a once-over. It makes him flush, and his breath stutters even more. "Didn't think it would be a problem for you, not after last night." Her hand is on his chest, for purely examination purposes, and she feels it shudder. "I'm serious Owen." Her face loses its teasing edge. "This isn't common for you, is it? If it is, you're putting yourself at a lot of risk working right now."

"No, it's not common." He assures her. "First time." She sighs and pulls away from him. "It's really not a big deal." 

"Owen you're sick. Even if you feel fine most of the time, it's risky." If she ends up having to save his life during a call because he decided to work as a goddamned firefighter with lung cancer, she might just let him die. 

"I know." He huffs, his breath finally back to normal. "I'll stop when I have to, I promise." She doesn't seem satisfied, but she shakes the look off when someone calls his name.

"Captain Strand?" The woman steps towards them. "Michelle?" 

Michelle's face brightens at the woman's presence. "Grace!" She smiles, pulling the woman into a hug. "How are you?" She asks, face falling with her second, more serious, question. "How's Judd?"

"That's actually why I came out here." Grace steps towards Owen. "Grace Ryder, Judd Ryder's my husband."

"Nice to meet you." He holds out his hand in greeting. 

"Actually, we've met." She shakes his hand. 

"Grace works 9-1-1 dispatch." Michelle explains at Owen's puzzled look. 

"I took the call that night." She tells him, and he sees Michelle start to fidget uncomfortably. "I was on the line with my husband when the explosion happened." Michelle remembers. Remembers being halfway there when the call came in that they couldn't go to the scene, that another crew had to take over. "He was running, back towards the danger."

"Yeah I read the report." He assures her, a sad kind of understanding on his face. "And his commendation." 

"And I read yours." Grace smiles at him, and he knows where this is going. She's right, he and Judd are a lot alike, but the difference is, he put the work into recovery.

"Yeah well, he needs to take a little time to take care of himself, before he can take care of anyone else." Michelle shifts behind Grace, and he realizes exactly how hypocritical he must sound to her. 

"I'm not asking you to throw him back into the action right away Captain, I know he's not ready for that." 

"So what are you asking?" There really isn't very much that Owen can do without the man's total cooperation. And if they are as alike as Grace says, Judd Ryder might just be too stubborn for that. 

"I'm asking you to do what you do best." Grace swallows. "I'm asking you to save him." It's pleading, and she has to wipe at her eye before she backs away from them, re-entering the bar with just a quick look back. 

"Owen." Michelle steps forward at his sigh. "I'm not just saying this because he's my friend, but you should really give him a chance. He's a good guy to have in your corner." She rests a hand on his shoulder. "I understand why you're still working. And I know you understand why he has to." 

“Michelle…” He sighs. “The man is traumatised. He can’t do our job with that kind of untreated trauma.”

“And you can do it with compromised lungs?” She counters, though not harshly. “Just think about it? Talk to him?” 

“Fine.” He concedes. “I’ll talk to him again.” 

“Come on.” She cocks her head towards the door. “You look like you could use a drink.” 

He could use a drink, in fact he uses several. "Are you even allowed to be a paramedic?" He asks her, many, many, drinks later. "How can someone get arrested fourteen times and still have your job?" There's no one around them, with half of the team already gone home, and the other half still dancing. So there's no one to see when she swats his arm in mock offense. 

"I'll have you know, Captain Strand." She giggles. "It's been fifteen times." She says it as though it is something to be proud of, and he has to laugh at her. 

"You got arrested again?" He looks around. "Or did you lie to me last night?"

"You told me to celebrate her birthday!" She defends, back straightening on her stool. 

"I didn't tell you to get yourself arrested! Again!" His idea of a birthday celebration had been more along the lines of the drink and cake she had tonight, not violating a restraining order.

"No one ever does." She shrugs. "But it keeps happening." She giggles into her glass, before knocking back the rest of her drink. "It's my turn." She shimmies out of her seat, stopping him when he goes to do the same. 

He watches her the whole way to the bar, jumping violently when TK appears at his side. "You can't sleep with Captain Blake dad." He warns, eyes narrowing. "Don't do it."

"What makes you think I would?" He splutters. 

"You're flirting with her. You've been flirting with her all day." He's actually been trying his best not to flirt with her all day. 

"No I haven't." He tries to defend, stopping immediately at TK's glare.

"Captain Blake seems really nice." He warns. "I don't know her, but she seems like a really nice lady. But most importantly, she's Captain Blake! You can't sleep with the paramedic Captain. We just got here, and you can't make it awkward and weird." 

"I'm not going to sleep with her." He assures him. Michelle had made that clear earlier, even if he'd been doubting how much she meant that with every interaction they've had since. 

"Good." TK nods. "Plus, her best friend is a cop, who could kick your ass if you did anything." Owen watches TK glance back at Carlos, eyes lingering for a moment. 

"You sure you're not only warning me off her," Owen smirks. "Because that would make it awkward for you to see her best friend?"

TK flushes madly, his hands flailing, very nearly knocking over Owen's empty glass. "No." He chokes. "I'm just saying. Don't do it." He catches Michelle turning to walk back to the table, and ducks away. 

"Here you go!" Michelle sets a tall glass of water in front of him. "I figured you'd need it, I'll be right back with the real drinks." She grins at him, turning back towards the bar, hips swaying as she walks. 

"Oh, yeah." TK appears again. "Probably won't be home tonight." He tells him, before disappearing again. Owen watches him brush his hand against Carlos's arm, and chuckles, shaking his head. 

"Those two really hit it off, huh?" Michelle asks, setting his drink in front of him and settling herself into her seat again. 

"Yeah." He sips his water. "Apparently TK won't be home tonight." 

Michelle shifts in her seat, a tiny smile gracing her features, eyes shining. "He won't?" 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That "He wont?" Is probably my favourite bit of this whole fic. It doesn't get any better from here.


	4. you know I hate to say so long

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a lot of this was specific requests from Ana

He wakes early, with her arm slung across his abdomen. Her breath tickles his arm, her nose pressed against it. He tries to turn his head to look at her, without shifting the rest of his body. Her leg is hooked around his, and any movement he makes will almost certainly wake her up. And she will almost certainly regret last night. 

It's one thing to have a one night stand with a stranger. And it's a whole other to sleep with a brand-new coworker on your first day. And somehow they managed to do both of those things. 

TK had probably been right telling him not to do this. This is bound to cause all kinds of awkwardness, no matter what they decide to do now. 

Either she's going to freak out, the decision to go home with him looking way worse in the light of day. Or she's going to let him down gently, again, and they are going to move on from this with a weird tension. A weird 'I've seen you naked, twice, and nobody can know about it' kind of tension. 

Or maybe, she'll do neither. But he's not ready to know what she decides. So he lies as still as he can, trying not to bother her. Just breathes in the soft scent from her hair, letting her comfort wash over him. 

Her hand twitches on his stomach, and he tenses, his arm shifting, bumping accidentally against her face. She pulls away from him with a sleepy chuckle, rolling her head away with a smile. "You didn't have to hit me." She whines quietly, eyes still closed. She rests the back of her hand against her face, her nose scrunching against the morning light. 

"I didn't mean to." He whispers, untangling his legs from hers and turning to face her. "Sorry." His voice scratches, his throat dry. He needs water, but he's absolutely loathe to slip out of bed right now. To leave her warmth, and the gentle smile on her lips. 

"I know." She whispers, opening her eyes to smile at him properly. "I was just teasing." She tucks a hand underneath her head, stretching her shoulders out. "What time is it?" She mumbles, turning her head away from the window. 

"It's early," he tells her, turning to the clock. "You've got time." He settles his head back on the pillow, the tiny exertion too much for the hour. Time for what exactly, he isn't sure. But she doesn't have to leave yet, so she has time to stay. 

"If TK comes home he'll freak out." She warns him. "You know it's really inconvenient that you live with your son." She hasn't freaked out yet, which he takes as a very good sign. "Next time we're going to mine." She mumbles, snuggling into him. 

That gets his attention. "There's gonna be a next time?"

She pulls away from him, resting her head on her arm. "This is the second time in two days Owen, you really think there isn't gonna be a next time?" She smirks at him. "Unless you don't want a next time." She mumbles, pulling her eyes away from his. 

"I do." He tells her, propping himself up on his elbow. "I do want a next time." 

"Okay." She smiles, nodding gently. "Nobody can know about this though." She warns, at least not now.

"Oh definitely not," he nods. "TK would kill me. He literally told me last night not to sleep with you." 

"A little bit late for that." She laughs, shaking her head. "Carlos would kill me. Tim and Nancy would kill me. Judd Ryder would totally kill me." 

"Sleeping with the enemy?" He quirks his eyebrows with a grin.

"He'll hate you on principle for a while." She shrugs, and honestly, Owen understands. He is taking over Judd's territory. "But he'll get used to you."

"Get used to me as Fire Captain? Or get used to me and you?" 

"I'm not sure." She admits, scrunching her nose. "Maybe both? Hopefully both. Anyway," She shrugs. "TK is our real problem."

As if on cue, they hear a car door slam. Neither of them breathe, staring at each other with unbridled panic. They listen until they hear the front door open and close, both of them swearing when footsteps start coming up the stairs. 

"You said I had time!" Michelle hisses, bolting upwards. 

"I thought you did!" She moves to step out of the bed, but he stops her. "Shh, try not to make any noise." 

"I'm not an idiot Owen," she rolls her eyes with a whisper. "I'm not going to announce my presence in your bedroom, to your son, who I just met yesterday, who works with me." Maybe it's because she's whispering, but her hissing isn't nearly as intimidating as she tries to make it. 

She tiptoes around the room frantically, pulling on clothes that have been strewn in all corners. They hear TK linger outside Owen's door and she freezes, staring at Owen, chest heaving, until TK moves on. 

"Owen!" She hisses, scanning the floor frantically. "Owen, I can't find my panties." She zips her dress up. "You have to help me find them." 

He slips out of the bed to look, but before they have any luck the shower starts up, and their opportunity to sneak her out outweighs missing underwear. Owen rushes her out of the room, pulling on sweatpants as he does so.

Downstairs, he grabs her hand before she opens the door. "Hey, wait!" He whispers. "I'll see you later." She has plenty of time to get home and change before work. "I had a really good time last night." He tucks a lock off hair behind her ear. "And the night before."

She shakes her head with a blush. "Me too." She smiles. "See you later." She starts to pull away from him, before he pulls her back, planting a kiss on her lips.

It's the first time he's kissed her with no intention of it leading to sex. It's so fast, and so soft, that she stands for a moment in the doorway, before flushing deep red and nodding her way out the door. 

He tiptoes back to bed, trying his best to still his pounding heart while TK showers. He's still lying there when TK knocks lightly on his door, and Owen lets him in with a grunt. He sits up, rubbing a hand over his face in mock-sleepiness. "Hey." He mumbles. "Morning."

"Morning." TK nods. "Just wanted to tell you that I got home." He glances around the room. "Good night?" 

"Yeah." He nods with a sigh. "Yeah it was fine, good team." He shrugs. "Night ended pretty quickly after you left though."

"So you didn't meet anyone nice?" Obviously TK is still high off the previous night's activities.

"Nope." He shakes his head, not catching TK's suspicious smirk.

"Kay." He goes to leave the room. "Oh Dad." He doubles back. "Unless you started wearing lacy panties recently...I know you had a woman over last night." TK ducks out of the room, leaving Owen alone. Alone with Michelle's lacy panties, lying, incriminating, on the floor. 

Owen huffs, falling back onto the pillow.

Xxx

The first thing she does when she gets home is pick up the slip of paper on her bedside table. She smoothes it between her fingers before she keys the number into her phone. 

_ Did we get away with it? - M _

She doesn't wait for a reply before she sheds her clothing, stepping into the shower. She washes off layers of sex and alcohol, and a long day's work. 

She emerges with a spring in her step, the exhaustion giving way to a strange flutter of light tension. It grips her, pulling her straight to her phone.

_ I didn't . But I think you did. -O _

She had suspected that TK would suspect something, but she is glad that he doesn't seem to suspect her.

_ What did he say? _

She towels at her hair while she waits on his answer. It's about time she actually gets a move on and gets ready for work, but part of her doesn't want to miss his reply. If only so she can laugh at whatever awkward encounter he had with his son.

_ Well the good news is, I found your underwear. Bad news, it was actually TK who found it. _

Her stomach drops, and she feels herself flush.

_ He WHAT???? _

She had hoped he'd caught Owen sneaking back to his room, or heard her moving around the room. Not that he saw her lacy, possibly specially chosen, panties tossed on his father's floor. 

_ I'm sorry. Pretty sure he thinks it was a stranger...again. _

Now she feels bad for Owen, getting caught twice in two days. That can't be great for TK's opinion of him. 

_ You could tell him it was the same woman? It's not technically lying? _

Except lying by a huge omission, but it's better than the alternative of the truth. 

_ I'll see what he assumes. Don't worry about it.  _

She guesses that he'll just go along with whatever TK thinks happened, it'll be easier than having to convince him of anything. 

_ Good luck. _

She drops her phone back on the bed, deciding, finally, to get ready for work.

Xx

Owen, already dressed, is nursing a coffee when TK comes downstairs. His cheery attitude somewhat diminished, Owen can see that he's annoyed at him. A tiny bit hypocritical, he thinks, considering that TK just spent the night with some guy he doesn't actually know. 

Owen is about to speak when TK shuts the cupboard door with just a little too much force. "Twice?" He huffs. "Two nights in a row? You pick up random strangers?"

So that's the story they're going with. "What's the big deal?"

"The big deal? Dad, come on. How is sleeping around as soon as we move town not a big deal?" He snaps, before his anger mellows considerably. "Are you okay?" He asks, leaning on the counter. "You need to talk to someone?"

Owen nearly laughs. "I'm fine, TK. I don't need to talk to anyone." He assures him instead. "I'm sorry, if I made you uncomfortable." He adds, because honestly, he is. It's bad knowing about your son's sex life, it must be even worse knowing about your dad's.

"Don't worry about it." TK shakes his head. "We're never talking about this again." He tells Owen, continuing to make his breakfast. 

Owen wonders briefly if that means TK will refrain from commenting on any more...meetings, Owen might have in future.

Xxx

"So you got out alive?" She teases, leaning against his office door with a coffee. "How did it go?"

Owen sighs, slouching back in his chair. "He was...not happy with me." He shakes his head. "I was pretty angry, actually." She steps into the office, closing the door behind herself. "I guess it's to be expected." He shrugs. "He thought it was two different women."

“And you let him?" She tilts her head, taking a sip of her coffee. 

"It's easier like that." He shrugs. "I'm going to get caught again. Better that he thinks I'm sleeping around, than have him ask to meet my girlfriend." She nearly chokes at the term. "See? Easier."

"Yeah." She nods absently. "Yeah, that's easier." She brings her cup to her lips, but doesn't drink. "So… other than mad at you… how did he seem this morning?" She bites her lip nervously, and he remembers who TK spent the night with. 

"Before he was mad at me, he seemed good." He shrugs, and she lets out a relieved sigh. "I think it went well."

Xx

Owen is terrible at keeping it cool. More often than not, she has to shoot a warning glare at him while she works, after catching him watching her just a bit too closely. She doesn’t think anyone else has noticed, all of them are far too good at their jobs to have time to notice their Captain being too distracted to do his. 

But she knows that it is only a matter of time. And she would very much like to avoid that happening. Especially with someone as observant and protective as Judd on the team. Judd, who had been the very first person to notice this exact behaviour in Billy. 

So she has to pull him aside after a call. “You need to stop that!”

“Stop what?” He asks, glancing out the window behind her. 

“Staring at me!” She hisses. “You keep looking at me.”

“I’m not allowed to look at you?” He starts to laugh, quirking his eyebrows at her. 

“Not my ass!” She snaps, huffing. “And not like you’ve seen me naked. Someone will notice.” Eventually, someone is bound to notice. “You can’t do it at work.”

“Fine.” He huffs. “I will do my best to restrain myself.”

“See that you do.” She warns, turning to walk out of the office. She adds a sway to her hips as she walks, smirking when she sees his reflection dip it’s head. “Stop it.” She warns, without turning her head. 

“Sorry!” He calls with a groan as she leaves his office. 

Xxx

The fabric practically burns through his pocket when he walks into the station. He had tossed the panties into his laundry hamper, safe in the assumption that TK would not be doing the laundry any time soon. 

So now they're clean, and it only seems right to return them to her. Although work might not be the best place. He can't keep them in his jacket though, and he doesn't even want to think what people would think if they found them in his desk drawer. Or his locker.

So he has to give them to her, before the end of shift. Which means it's the first thing he tries to do when he gets in, hoping they dont get a call before he can give them back. 

She's in her office, thankfully, this should be way easier without anyone passing by. "Hey!" He knocks on the door frame. "Morning Captain." He smiles at her, stepping into the office. 

"Morning Captain." She returns with a smirk, one that Owen is sure is a little suggestive. "What's up?" She's leaning back in her chair, and he settles himself on the side of her desk. Hopefully, if someone does happen to pass by, this positioning would make the exchange less obvious. 

"I have something for you." He glances around, reaching into his pocket, only pulling them out when he's sure no one is outside the office. 

"You know Captain, normally those words are accompanied by a surprise gift." She chuckles. "Not something I already own." She slips the panties into the drawer of her desk. "But thank you." She quirks her head at him. "I have to ask though, why didn't you just wait until after work? You're still coming over, right?" She does her best to disguise her anxiety, but the bite she gives her lip gives her away. 

"Yeah." He nods. "Yeah, I'm coming over. I just couldn't keep them in my jacket or my locker, anyone could see them. And I'm pretty sure TK keeps stealing gum from my desk drawer. Can you imagine if he found them? He'd never talk to me again."

"I guess you're right." She giggles. "It would make you seem like a creepy old guy."

"I think he thinks that anyway." He shrugs. "But that definitely wouldn't help."

Just then, the alarm blares, and he squeezes her hand before rushing out the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I won't lie, I really like this chapter. sorry if ya'll don't.


End file.
